Claire Langcaster
"The strong need to protect the weak - heroes restore order to the people." Claire is the youngest of the Langcaster family, and the only one innately gifted with magic due to being the fifth daughter of a fifth daughter five times running (sorceress blood on her mother's side) – her heritage has been a source of contention for her in the past, though she is finally bringing her Wild Magic under a modicum of control thanks to her tutoring from Ginniene Keeper. She currently follows Dirge Whitepyre on his missions to learn from his tactics and provide support when necessary. Her love for her family runs deeply, especially for her older brother Judas to whom she feels a special bond and tries to imitate (both intentionally and not). Due to a Wild Magic Surge when her abilities were manifesting, she looks more youthful than she is; her outward appearance of fourteen human years hides her actual age of 24. Personality Desperate for attention and acceptance, Claire loves being in the spotlight and will strive to gain the respect of those she admires most. She is fiercely protective of people she perceives to be unable to fend for themselves, and gets annoyed when people in positions of power don't respond fast enough to those in need; she enjoys dramatic flourishes and will often interpose herself in a loud and theatrical fashion like the heroes in her stories. She acts bratty and childish to gain attention and lower people's expectations of her, as she shares the same self-doubt as her brother due to their teasing growing up - while Judas went on to forge relationships with their neighbours, however, Claire never forgave the slights against them and fought with her family over passively letting people get their way. Hearing stories of the brutal way Thayans treated non-magi instilled in her a determination to never treat others as lesser than her, and seeing what people could accomplish under kind and accommodating authority figures inspired a desire to give everyone the same chances she had; a safe town where work was balanced with leisure. Her desire to fit in with others comes alongside a deep longing for an active and involved community; something she believes she has found in Creston. Religious / Moral views Not overly familiar with gods as a central figure in the lives of those she knew, Claire passively worshipped Ye’Cind as she was raised in a musically inclined family. Arguably she was the least serious of the group in this matter, often forgetting her daily prayer and simple rituals before, during, and after work. Now that she lives in Creston she pays obeisance to the Empyreon Dauntless, but her worship mostly stems from her view of him as a force of order rather than as an actual god whose concept she has trouble grasping. While Claire fiercely believes in freedom for individuals, she espouses that the truest freedom one can find is under benevolent rule that would protect common people and allow them to do things they otherwise could not. Her desire to protect people from mages (Thayans specifically, though this extends to every malevolent magus) and others who would exploit them has led her to seeing Archon Dauntless as the ultimate solution to guarding everyday folk from the chaos of the world. Her zealous behaviour in this regard led Heloise D’Argenteuil of The Fingers to give her the nickname “Chains-of-Love Langcaster”. Claire’s alignment is Chaotic Good, though she aims to bring herself in line using Dirge’s calming influence. While she will try to find the least harmful way to achieve her goals, she has no qualms with eliminating people who stand in the way of what she perceives to be the greater good. Notable Accomplishments Claire has not been adventuring long enough to rack up any considerable achievements. Family life and companions As the baby of the Langcaster family Claire was afforded special attention from her older siblings in lieu of that from her often busy parents. Her relationship was close with both her mother and father while growing up, though she focused more on her older brother Judas when they decided she needed less direct supervision and guidance as he was always happy to coddle her. She, like her other siblings, is wary around Eiliryies despite admiring her deeply, and struggles to be worthy of the Langcaster name when it comes to crafting instruments. While crude and often unfinished, Claire’s woodwinds are her strongest point, bringing out a wild and pure sound unmatched by the rest of her relatives’ creations. Her current companions are Archon Dauntless’ three generals; her teacher Ginniene Keeper, her idol Dirge Whitepyre, and master-at-arms Issac Stromoe. She admires and envies their easy camaraderie and skill, hoping one day to be like them. Habits, Vices, and Hobbies Claire often pretends to be as young as she looks in order to have people want to protect and trust her, or at least not to suspect her, and frequently forgets about her responsibilities in order to pursue a temporary goal. While she doesn’t have any traditional vices like smoking or drinking as it would ruin her image, she has poor impulse control. She will mirror this with periods of extreme rigidity and isolation (despite her extremely social nature) in order to counterbalance her chaotic tendencies and protect people by removing herself from the situation. She enjoys carving as a hobby, but only in short busts – any task that has immediate payoff and takes a short period of time to complete will catch her attention, such as weaving flower crowns or making art with magical means. She also enjoys dancing, sometimes combining it with her magic to float and skip through the air. Affiliations and Organisations Claire currently works under Dirge Whitepyre in an unofficial capacity and works to spread the will of the Empyreon. As her brother is a member of Olidammara’s clergy and an open opponent of Creston there has been concern that she would be used as a political pawn by one side or the other, though Claire and Dirge have made it clear that she is there of her own volition and stays out of politics. Biography Claire was born with wild magic running through her veins – after Judas had been chosen by Ye’Cind the parents often placed them together, being the youngest two and the only members of the family with control over the arcane. The two bickered often as Judas was usually assigned to watch the troublesome sorceress and the perceived lack of attention from her parents and grudging watchfulness of her older brother grated on Claire, though the friendship between them grew stronger as she grew older and eventually they became the closest siblings in the family. Despite being the youngest, Claire often spoke up on her brother’s behalf when other children teased them for their magic, even going so far as to get in fights for him despite not seeming to care what they said about her. The Accident and Splitting the Family Claire considers herself responsible for Judas’ accident as she had been secretly practising magic in the house despite her brother’s warnings, and a Wild Magic Surge tore through the house while he was carving in the workshop - a lightning bolt struck his arm and the resulting seizure wrenched his arm back through a carving blade, costing the first joint on each of his left-hand fingers. As Claire ran downstairs she was greeted by Dae’lynn gathering up the unconscious and twitching form of her brother as blood pooled beneath him; her resulting emotional outburst caused another Surge and Dae’lynn barely got the two of them out of the house before smoke started to pour from the building. After Dae’lynn described her version of events to their parents it was decided that Judas would need time to recover away from Claire, and was sent to stay with a family friend named Cricket in the Warforged Lands. Through correspondence Judas was told that he would be acting in a sales capacity for the family while he recovered, and that they had called someone in to help train Claire to control her magic. While Judas made it clear that he didn’t bear any ill-will toward Claire for the incident, she never stopped blaming herself for costing her brother his career – while he could still carve, it was with nowhere the speed or grace of before that had attracted the attention of Ye’Cind. The two continued to exchange letters while Judas was away and travelling around Darynos to the homes of various lords, and she watched his growing fascination with the Laughing Rogue blossom over several years. Hedge-Witch Lessons She practised control over her power during this time though her chaotic nature often blossomed in other ways, such as inattentiveness and intense hot-and-cold periods of obsession with seemingly random concepts or things. She would often wander out of the town for days at a time until one of her sisters came to fetch her (usually Linnea). Her father called in the local apothecary, a hedge-witch named Macha, to instruct Claire in the basic arts of controlling her spells and added little pieces to her repertoire; Claire now used her time outside of keeping the shop to search for spell components, having no focus of her own to use. She kept to small cantrips around the other children but practised her other spells in the nearby forest so as not to frighten anyone – her favourite spell quickly becoming Snilloc’s Snowball Swarm. Delayed Reunion When she received a letter saying that Judas was planning to return home her heart was overjoyed and she instantly began making preparations to welcome him back. Her happiness was short-lived, however; Judas soon followed up with a message that detailed the appearance of someone he believed was “Chosen”, and that he was going to make a quick detour to see what he could do to help this person achieve their destiny. Claire was incensed that her brother had been taken again, placing blame on this man Judas had chosen over her. Runaways and later days The last letter she received from him was a quick note saying that one of the lords he once knew had died during a fearsome confrontation, and they had all become involved in something much darker than they originally thought. Around the time that the Core was overtaken by Empyreon’s forces, Claire ran away from the family home to look for her brother due to a rumour she had heard regarding a warrant being issued for the arrest of Serrano Stormheart - her brother’s so-called “chosen one”. Her travels were mostly uneventful, as her magic allowed her to pass unnoticed when she wished to hide in caravans and wagons along the roads, and she eventually found herself in The Core where her constant questions on the location of her brother and Serrano caught the attention of the occupying Creston forces. She was brought before Dirge for questioning where she told him what little she knew; Dirge explained that Judas wasn’t wanted for any crimes outside of being Serrano’s accomplice and Claire agreed that the Bard must have swayed her brother using magic or lies. She helped Dirge locate the party several times using scrying magic and begged her way into accompanying him in his search, witnessing the capture of Amber at Yeol’s tower and the swordmage’s following failed escape attempt. Claire is currently building experience during her travels with Archon Dauntless’ citizens, learning to harness her power in a greater capacity than before, looking to one day make her own mark on the world. Enemies and Rivals Misc. - Theme song is "Again" by Yui since that was on repeat during character conceptualisation and ended up as much of the "feeling" behind her. - Claims that she doesn't use Charm spells intentionally; there are "faeries" in her words that make people do what she wants when she's sad so that she cheers up again. - Deeply creeped out by the Fingers (priests) of Olidammara who occasionally make guest appearances in her life